Downtown parking changes hit Lakeland Tuesday

John Chambliss @ledgercity

Monday

Jan 8, 2018 at 8:54 PMJan 9, 2018 at 11:43 AM

LAKELAND — Downtown parking will see some changes Tuesday.

First, the lower level of the Main Street garage will be free for those who enter from Cedar Street after 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. The current payment of $1 per hour will be required only from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

In addition, if drivers are willing to walk an extra block or two to the center of town, they can park in spaces on Massachusetts Avenue north of Traders Alley; on Main Street west of Florida Avenue; or most of Orange Street with no time limits.

Currently, drivers are allowed a maximum of four hours in a spot. The first two hours are free and the next two cost $1 an hour.

But Angelo Rao, the city's manager of traffic and parking operations, said drivers will be able to pay 25 cents an hour after the first two hours if they are willing to park away from downtown's core.

"The whole gist is to try to balance the needs of longer-term parking with the needs of businesses who need turnover," Rao said. "We're trying to find a compromise."

Julie Townsend, executive director of the Lakeland Downtown Development Authority, said the changes are targeting people who want to stay downtown for hours.

"We want them to be able to park and play longer and not feel the pressure of moving their car," Townsend said.

She said the changes came after a meeting in 2017 about parking issues in the city.

One of the ideas was a tiered parking system that would have raised prices in the core of downtown. Instead of raising prices, Townsend said, they decided to lower prices further away from the center of town.

Drivers are required to pay for street parking through the ParkMobile app on their phones.